Is CAPE Phase 3 open on September 22, 2026?

No. CBP's September 15 declaration says it will deploy Phase 3 on October 6, 2026. The Court of International Trade's September 17 order requires a progress report that day; it does not itself activate the filing lane. Verify CBP's operating instructions and your own case status before submitting a declaration.

Who can submit a Phase 3 declaration on October 6?

CBP says plaintiffs whose finally liquidated IEEPA entries are covered by a Court of International Trade reliquidation order and who supplied a valid importer-of-record number to CBP by July 30, 2026, can file Phase 3 declarations as of the planned October 6 deployment. A court order, not merely having an old entry, is the key legal distinction.

What if my importer-of-record number was submitted after July 30?

CBP says it will give additional Phase 3 instructions to plaintiffs who provided an importer-of-record number after July 30, 2026. Its September 15 declaration does not promise that this group can file on October 6. Ask your litigation counsel to confirm how and when CBP will process your entries.

Can an importer that never sued use Phase 3 for finally liquidated entries?

No general non-plaintiff filing lane has been announced. The September 15 CBP declaration describes a plaintiff-specific process for entries covered by court-ordered reliquidation. The Freestyle World class-certification issue remains unresolved in the public materials reviewed through September 22, 2026. Discuss material finally liquidated claims with trade counsel instead of assuming Phase 3 will cover them.

Should I stop watching my protest deadline because Phase 3 has a date?

No. A planned software deployment does not extend the usual 180-day protest period after liquidation. Review each entry's status and deadline, file a protective protest where available and appropriate, and coordinate any existing protest with a customs professional before withdrawing it for CAPE.

CAPE Phase 3 October 6, 2026: Who Can File IEEPA Claims?

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has put a date on its limited Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) Phase 3 rollout: October 6, 2026. The date appears in CBP official Brandon Lord’s September 15 declaration in Freestyle World (ECF No. 50). It is a planned deployment, not a filing lane that is open today.

The distinction matters because Phase 3 is not a blanket refund route for every finally liquidated IEEPA entry. This guide explains the first group CBP says can file, what plaintiffs outside that group should expect, and the checks importers should make before the scheduled launch.

CAPE Phase 3 October 6 eligibility and IEEPA refund filing checklist

Who Is in the First Phase 3 Filing Group?

CBP defines Phase 3 as covering finally liquidated entries filed by plaintiffs for which the Court of International Trade (CIT) has ordered reliquidation. According to the September 15 Lord Declaration, paragraph 8, plaintiffs who supplied a valid importer-of-record (IOR) number to CBP by July 30, 2026 will be able to file Phase 3 CAPE declarations as of October 6. Plaintiffs who supplied their IOR number later will receive additional instructions; the declaration does not give them the same October 6 filing assurance.

The September 17 CIT order (ECF No. 52) describes the plaintiff-specific process. Its operative instruction to the government is to file another CAPE progress report by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on October 6. The court also set a closed settlement conference for October 7 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. The order does not certify a class or open Phase 3 to non-plaintiffs.

Do not confuse an IOR number merely existing in ACE with the declaration’s condition that a valid number was provided to CBP by July 30 for this court-directed process. Confirm the submission and its treatment with the lawyer handling your CIT case. For the underlying July reliquidation order, see our finally liquidated entries and CIT order analysis.

What Phase 3 Does Not Change

CBP’s public IEEPA Duty Refunds guidance, reviewed September 22, still presents Phases 1 and 2 as the active filing functionality. Neither CBP’s declaration nor the September 17 order announced a general Phase 3 administrative lane for importers who never brought a CIT case. The pending Freestyle World class-certification dispute is a separate legal question; do not treat a possible future class ruling as already decided.

The scheduled deployment also does not stop protest deadlines. For entries still within the ordinary 180-day period after liquidation, review whether a timely protective protest is appropriate. An existing protest can affect CAPE entry acceptance, so do not withdraw one solely because Phase 3 has a date. Our protest-or-CIT decision guide explains the separate paths; obtain case-specific trade-law advice for material claims.

Prelaunch Checklist for Court-Covered Plaintiffs

Confirm the court order and entry list. Ask counsel which of your finally liquidated entries are covered by a CIT reliquidation order; do not add unrelated entries because they paid IEEPA duties.
Verify the IOR submission date. Determine whether CBP received a valid IOR number by July 30. If yours was supplied later, wait for the promised additional instructions through counsel.
Check ACE access and filing authority. The CBP refund page describes ACE Portal access and authorized broker relationships for CAPE. Do not assume a broker can file without the required relationship to the entries. Use our ACE account setup guide to prepare.
Verify ACH refund details. CBP reported 20,184 refunds totaling about $1.3 billion had not been transmitted to Treasury because the IOR or authorized Form 4811 designee had not supplied ACH details as of September 11. Check the ACH enrollment guide before filing. Source: September 15 Lord Declaration, paragraph 6.
Use the official declaration instructions when issued. The existing seven-step CAPE guide explains the general ACE workflow, but Phase 3 may involve case-specific directions. Keep your entry-number CSV and reconciliation records ready without submitting prematurely.

Check that your Form 5106 identity information remains accurate as well. CBP’s August 19 Federal Register notice says enhanced enforcement began September 18; it does not say an IOR void automatically cancels an already accepted CAPE declaration. See the Form 5106 checklist for the separately documented identity requirements.

If You Are Not in the First Filing Group

Keep using Phase 1 or Phase 2 for entries that meet those rules; do not hold eligible claims merely because Phase 3 is approaching. For older finally liquidated entries without a plaintiff-specific court order, seek counsel review of CIT options and preserve any still-open protest rights. Use the eligibility check to sort your portfolio, then review the Phase 3 delay history if you need to understand how the October date replaced CBP’s earlier postponed target.

CBP’s September 15 declaration also provides the latest quantified checkpoint: as of 3:00 p.m. Eastern on September 11, approximately $134.7 billion in potential and certified refunds had been accepted for CAPE processing and approximately $122 billion had been completed, certified, and sent to Treasury. Those are pipeline figures, not proof that every importer has received payment. Source: Lord Declaration, paragraphs 3–6.

The next verification point is October 6: check the new CBP progress report and official operating guidance before treating Phase 3 as live. Meanwhile, continue eligible CAPE filings and maintain the protest/CIT backup strategy appropriate to each entry.

Primary court documents: September 15 Lord Declaration, ECF No. 50 (local reading copy) and September 17 CIT order, ECF No. 52 (local reading copy). CAPE Portal Guide is not a law firm, customs broker, or government agency. This article is educational and does not guarantee eligibility or recovery.

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